Facebook Inc CEO To Startups: ‘Don’t Worry About Making Mistakes’

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg offered his advice on establishing a company while he was talking during an open Q&A session held by the social network recently. The Facebook founder said, “Don’t worry about making mistakes too often,” and added, “…mistakes are how you learn. The real question is how you learn from them, not what you should avoid.”

Don’t be afraid of mistakes

Zuckerberg told the audience that while establishing Facebook, he also made several mistakes, and that was a large part of how he learned. He asked the audience to keep marching ahead and not feel stressed about their mistakes. Zuckerberg answered a number of questions during the event and shared his thoughts on the suggested “dislike” button and the social networking site in general.

During the event, a women said she is a mother to a teenager and wanted to know that, if in a hypothetical case, she and Zuckerberg were married and had a child, then how they would handle Facebook with their daughter. Zuckerberg took the question lightly and said he would not ban the social network or the technology.

The Facebook CEO said sometimes society has this perception that children don’t know how to do stuff, but the reality is they are more sophisticated than one could imagine. The CEO said he would allow his kids to use the technology because it is the only way to learn things and develop skills for the modern world.

Zuckerberg acknowledged that bullying and misuse are the real problems, and the company works on such issues. Also kids under 13 are not allowed to join Facebook.

No “dislike” button from Facebook

When asked about adding a “dislike” button, Zuckerberg said Facebook will not add that feature, because they believe it is not a socially valuable thing or great for the community. He said in the future there will be various responses similar to the “like,” button that are more effective ways to sympathize or empathize with someone. Zuckerberg said the power to express more is always good, but Facebook wants to do it the right way.

Zuckerberg said he did not have any resolutions for the New Year yet, and he took the question of toppings on pizza sportingly, saying he would love to have fried chicken on his pizza. Zuckerberg also talked about his charity work and his company’s advanced learning system in STEM fields. He suggested folks check out non-profits on Facebook for examples.